Vegetable Biryani (2 ways)

After a short trip to Sri Lanka where we struggled to find veg food, our taste buds were craving for some spice and lots of vegetables. I wanted to make and eat something that celebrated our wonderful Indian cuisine. It had also been a long time since I had made biryani, I'd almost forgotten the recipe taught to me by my friend's mom. So I tried to recollect all I could and gave it a go. It definitely was the tastiest biryani I've ever eaten (may be cause I made it :P) Below is the recipe how I made it (1st one). There are a few things missing here that are present in an authentic biryani as I made it with things readily available. I have not added potato, black cardamom and saffron/kesar. You can add the potato along with the other vegetables. Black cardamom needs to be added to the rice as well as the masala (1 each). Few saffron strands are mixed with milk and added to the rice. I skipped all this and as I know it, it made no difference to the biryani tastewise. Also, I used regular rice and not Basmati. I highly recommend using Basmati as it adds to the fragrance. I am listing down 2 recipes below, 1st one is how I made it and the 2nd one is an easier method.

Add all the roughly chopped vegetables and 1/4 cup water and cover and cook on low flame until the vegetables are almost done.

Add more water if needed.

Grind the mint leaves with a little water and add it to the curd and whisk to remove any lumps.

Add this to the masala and cook for 1 min.

Add salt and remove from heat.

In another pan, add the remaining oil.

Once the oil is hot, add the remaining onion sliced lengthwise and fry until brown.

Add one layer of the masala over the onions

Add one layer of rice

Again add a layer of masala and then one layer of rice.

Sprinkle 2 tbsp of milk and cover the kadhai and cook on low flame for 10-15 mins.

Mix well and serve hot with raita.

Recipe 2: Easy way out

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 cup / 10-12 florets

Carrot - 1

Peas - 1/2 cup

Beans - 12-15

Onion - 2 medium

Tomato - 2 medium

Garlic - 4-5 cloves

Ginger - 1 " piece

Curd - 1/2 cup

Mint - 1/2 cup

Rice - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups + 1/2 cup

Cloves - 2

Cinnamon - 1" piece

Green cardamom - 2

Bayleaf - 1

Mace - few strands

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 6 tsp

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Biryani masala - 1-2 tbsp

Salt

Method:

Cook rice along with cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom, bayleaf, mace and 1/2 tsp of salt. You can pressure cook the rice until it is done. Add a little less water than you regularly do so that the rice is not too mushy. We need the rice grains to be separate.

Remove the spices from the rice and keep aside.

Parboil the vegetables outside until they are half done. Especially carrot and beans that take a little longer to cook. You can microwave them on high for 3-4 mins.

Heat 4 tsp oil in another kadhai and add the cumin seeds.

Once they brown, add 1 chopped onion. Cook until the onions are translucent.